Below Rock Bottom And Back Up Again
by forgetyouinsiberia
Summary: Season 2 AU. Blaine and Kurt meet in an entirely different way, and things happen. ONESHOT. Rating for language and content.


**A/N: **Before you start reading, I just want to mention a few things: one, I'm moving things around a bit. This is set somewhere in season 2, although AU in certain aspects, it is mostly canon with McKinley students. Also, this is the first story I've ever written for the Glee fandom, so please be gentle with your reviews :) Finally, I apologize that this story is as choppy as it is. I likely could've done it in several chapters, but it felt easier to write it as moments in time (and I really hate filler lately. It feels impossible to write). Even so, it comes out at a nice and high number for a oneshot, so I hope you enjoy :)

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing. Nada. Zilch. (Well, the plot idea, but then not really either). And of course, I also have no contact, affiliation, ect., with FOX, Glee, Ryan Murphy, Darren Criss, Chris Colfer, ect. I'm just a lonely girl in a different part of the midwest writing this to keep my friends happy :) Oh, and the ONLY thing I gain from writing this is more writing experience (and a yearly word-count boost). That is all.

_Below Rock Bottom And Back Up Again_

The very first time Kurt Hummel heard Blaine Anderson's name, he was sitting in Glee club waiting for Rachel to turn up so they could talk about when they were going to hit the mall for prom dresses. Finn had finally asked her after nearly a week of nail-biting nervousness and anticipation. Even though they had been back together for a few weeks, Rachel apparently had been worried that he wasn't going to ask her and she'd driven Kurt up a wall talking about it, especially when he knew that Finn was just trying to come up with a cute way to ask her. As it was, he'd agreed ages ago to help Rachel find the 'perfect dress', and she was still technically his best and closest friend. But as he waited, he heard Puck and Santana talking about the new transfer student-whose name was Blaine.

Kurt himself had not heard much about Blaine just yet. The information he would find out about the fellow Junior would come in the following days. But as he sat in front of Puck and Santana and listened, his interest was piqued.

"Wait, have you actually seen this kid, or is this just crap you're starting to make people talk?" Santana asked disbelievingly.

"I swear," Puck responded determinedly. "The kid has a huge scar on his forehead. And not any kind of Harry Potter thing either. It's literally his whole forehead."

"Damn," Santana responded.

If Kurt had been the slightest bit curious from those few words he'd eavesdropped on that first day, he didn't show it. Rachel had waltzed into the room shortly after Puck's statement, and before he could catch anymore of what Santana was going to say, Mr. Shue entered as well and called the room into order.

* * *

The next time Blaine Anderson was mentioned near Kurt, he was sitting on a stool outside the dressing room that Rachel was currently in, and it was Rachel doing the gossiping.

"Have you met him?" She had asked.

"Met who?" He responded lazily. He'd been too busy staring at the sequin pattern on the dress she'd left in his lap a few moments earlier to pay too much attention.

"The new kid," Rachel said, her voice rising slightly. "Blaine. Did you meet him?"

"Oh," Kurt commented. His brow furrowed slightly. He tried to recall if he'd actually seen anyone new through the course of the day, and came up empty. "Nope. Didn't see anyone new either."

"He's in my calculus class," Rachel commented. Her door opened slightly a moment later and her head popped out. "Can you help me? I can't get the zipper up to the top."

Kurt settled the dress she had him holding on the stool he'd been on and then walked over to the door. Rachel turned and pulled her hair to the side, and he tugged the zipper from mid-way her back to its rightful place between her shoulder-blades. The dress was a deep shade of red with a tight bodice and a ballgown skirt.

Rachel turned and exited the dressing room, giving Kurt a full few of the dress while she looked down at it herself.

"What do you think?" She asked.

"It looks great," he responded.

Rachel sighed, shaking her head at Kurt. "Not the dress, Kurt. What do you think of Blaine?"

Kurt shrugged. "I don't know. I don't know anything about him."

"Well there's a rumour going around that he's gay," Rachel said before turning to head back into the dressing room. She left the door open though, staring at herself in the mirror for a few moments before she turned her back to Kurt.

"Unzip me?" She requested. "This is the dress."

Kurt stepped up behind her and pulled the zipper down to the base of her back before walking over to his stool and picking up the one she'd left him holding. He hung it on a discard rack and then sat back down, turning Rachel's words over in his head. Blaine Anderson-someone new, who he'd never met-was apparently gay. And that piqued his curiosity that much more.

* * *

Blaine exhaled heavily as he dropped back onto his bed and stared up at the ceiling. School had been...too many different things to slap a label on. Few people actually acknowledged him to his face, and most who did called him what he was. A fag.

It wasn't as though Blaine was surprised. The few friends he'd had back at his last school no longer wanted any contact with him, and his own parents weren't paying any attention to him either. Cooper tried as much as he could, but he was busy juggling acting classes, any job he could get, plus a full-time job working in the mail room at their father's law firm.

Of course, there was always the option of calling Kyle, if he got so lonely or desperate that he actually _needed_ the human interaction...but every time he got as far as staring down at the boy's number in his phone, he remembered everything Cooper had done for him in the last few months, and couldn't bring himself to do it.

His gaze fell to the mirror standing up against the wall across the room. Cooper kept insisting he would get it hung up when he had a free moment-not that there were very many-and Blaine kept telling him nonchalantly not to worry about it. The funny thing was, he actually **didn't **want Cooper to worry about it. He had no use for a mirror anymore.

His phone buzzed at his side, and he picked up, glancing at the name on the screen. He half-expected it to be Kyle-he usually texted at least once a day-but instead it was a text message from Cooper. He exhaled a sigh as he lifted his other hand to hold the phone above his head while he unlocked his phone.

_Working late. Got an audition last min.  
__There's money in the coffee can. Order  
__what you want. I'll try to get home  
__ASAP._

Blaine sent back a lazy-and somewhat annoyed- _'k' _before dropping the phone back onto the bed next to him. He looked down at the mirror again and stared at the reflection of his ankles and feet in it for several moments before finally turning over on the bed and burying his face in his pillow. He screamed into it, kicking his feet at the end of his bed as he did so, until he was out of breath. Silently, his feet dropped back against the end of the bed, and he huffed. He tugged a blanket over his body and closed his eyes.

When he woke, some time had passed, if only apparent by the fact that his room was darker than it had been when he had closed his eyes. He stared out the window for a few moments, watching as a tree moved back and forth from the force of the wind outside. Shortly thereafter, his stomach made a loud grumble, and he moved to sit up. He grabbed around his bed until he found his phone tucked under one of his pillows.

Blaine unlocked his phone as he walked over to the door and opened it. He walked down the short hallway into the kitchen of the apartment he and Cooper now lived in and strode over to kitchen counter. He flipped through several take-out menus in the dim lighting before finally turning the kitchen light on and finding the number on a chinese takeout menu. He called in an order and then settled down at the counter with his school bag and started to work on the homework he'd been given.

As he scribbled in answers on the worksheet in front of him, he yawned out of boredom. One of the downsides of transferring from a private school to public school was the lack of education advantages. Even though he was placed in almost all AP classes, Blaine already knew ninety percent of what he was supposed to be learning.

He finished the worksheets before the food arrived and returned his homework to the school bag before pulling his laptop across the counter from where he'd left it that morning. He opened it up and started up the system, drumming his fingers against the counter and looking elsewhere as he waited.

When the system finally booted up, he opened his account and then opened his browser. It quickly loaded his old school's website, and Blaine couldn't stop himself from sighing dejectedly. He hadn't gotten around to changing his home page yet because he'd barely been in any kind of contact with people-not even through electronics.

Feeling curious-and really_, really bored-_he clicked on the facebook bookmark on his bar and then waited for it to load. He'd normally be terrified to even check it, but after Cooper caught him having a meltdown one night after comments were posted on his wall, he took Blaine's computer and deleted and blocked every single person who posted anything before changing all of Blaine's privacy settings.

As the page loaded though, most of what Blaine saw were meme photos posted by the various random pages he followed. There were a few family members who still kept him as a friend on their accounts, and of course his mother. Facebook was the only place he saw anything of her anymore. Too much had changed.

A buzz emitted from a speaker near the door a few moments later, so Blaine stood and grabbed a twenty from the coffee can next to the fridge before replacing the cap. He walked over to the door then and let the buzzer into the building, leaning against the wall and waiting until a knock sounded at the door.

He inhaled and exhaled deep breaths as he stood there for several seconds. He could do this. He could handle this. He finally stood up straight and then opened the door, barely making eye-contact with the man in front of him as they exchanged the money for the food. Blaine could feel the man's eyes on his forehead, and he hated it. Once he had the bag of food in his hand, he promptly shut the door and locked. The delivery man could keep the change.

* * *

Kurt stared at Blaine's facebook page as he laid in bed that night. He couldn't help his curiosity; Rachel's comment had him wondering what Blaine was like. He wondered what color Blaine's eyes were. What his voice sounded like. He wondered if Blaine could sing, or if he even liked music. And what kind of music?

But as he stared at Blaine's page-it hadn't been easy to track down-all the information it granted him was his profile and cover photo, and the link. As far as facebook was concerned, Kurt wasn't invited to the privilege of knowing more.

Even with the lack of information on Blaine's unfriended page, Kurt couldn't help but wonder what it was that people were talking about at school. Blaine's profile picture was of him and who Kurt could only assume was his older brother...but there was no scar on his forehead. He even stared at the taller-and presumably older-man in the photo for an unknown amount of time, but as he glanced back and forth between the two men in the photo, nothing popped out at him. So either everyone at school was crazy...or something had happened since the last time Blaine had changed his profile picture.

Kurt's door opened a few moments later, and he glanced up from his phone to see Finn standing in the space between the frame and the door.

"What's up?" Kurt asked.

"I don't get this assignment for english," Finn responded. "What the hell am I supposed to persuade someone about?"

"Whatever you want," Kurt said. "I did my paper on more funding for the arts."

Finn exhaled heavily, bringing a hand up to rub his temples. As terrible as a joke that it was, Kurt couldn't help but wonder if sometimes it actually **did** hurt Finn to have to think. At least when it came to school-related stuff.

"Do you want to read mine?" Kurt offered. "I'll e-mail it to you."

Finn exhaled a deep breath and nodded. Kurt turned his attention to his phone and opened his e-mail app, finding the e-mail he'd sent to their teacher a few hours earlier. He forwarded the message to Finn and then glanced back up at him. "Sent."

"Thanks," Finn said. Kurt nodded and then turned his attention back to his phone once more. Finn seemed to linger in the doorway a few moments longer than what he needed to, but whatever question was on his mind, he didn't speak, because he pulled the door shut a few moments later.

If Finn were anybody else, he likely would've never offered up the option to share his paper, but he knew Finn well enough to believe that he wouldn't cheat, and knew even better that if he did actually do something that stupid, it would have been his own choice, and he'd likely be caught. Kurt knew he had nothing to worry about...which was why he just turned his attention back to Blaine's facebook page.

* * *

When Cooper Anderson arrived at home, it was nearly midnight. No lights were on in the apartment that he could see, but he could still smell the chinese food that Blaine had eaten hours before. Cooper walked over to the stove and turned the light on above it. As light filled the area, he saw several cartons still sitting out along with a note from Blaine.

_Saved you some._

Cooper chuckled silently to himself as he stared at the note. When they were younger, he and Blaine were notorious in their family for fighting over the same foods. Anything that Cooper had already liked, Blaine decided he liked as well, and every meal became a competition of who got the bigger serving. Only when one of them fell ill did the argument ever _temporarily_ cease. But as soon as the other was feeling better again, it always picked up again.

Cooper picked up the saved food cartons and moved them to the fridge, having gotten dinner with co-workers before his audition. And even if he _had _been hungry, he was too tired to actually eat.

Once he'd put the food away, he lazily wiped down the counters as best he could without having to use too much energy before resigning to call it a night. He dropped the washcloth he was using into the sink and then headed into the hall. He paused in front of Blaine's bedroom door and leaned into it, listening for any sound that might give off the impression he was awake. When he heard nothing, Cooper gently eased the door open. The little bit of light streaming in from the window was enough for him to see that Blaine was in fact fast asleep. His phone was half-tucked under his hip, so Cooper tip-toed across the floor and gently pulled it out from under Blaine's hip before finding the charger cord where it was resting on the nightstand and plugging the phone in. The phone lit up, and as it did, Blaine turned over suddenly. Cooper cursed himself and the phone under his breath before glancing down at Blaine. The younger Anderson brother was still fast asleep. Cooper stared at him for several moments in awe-something he'd done since the day Blaine had been born, sixteen years before-before reaching down and brushing a knuckle gently against Blaine's forehead. As his knuckle brushed over the scarred skin, his stomach churned.

Blaine let out a loud breath, and Cooper pulled his hand back and set the phone down, moving towards the door. He knew if he stuck around too much longer, Blaine would wake up, and neither of them would have the energy to talk about any of the things that actually **needed** to be discussed.

Cooper pulled the door shut as he stepped into the hall again, and then walked a few feet up the hall to the door on the other side of it. He pushed the door open and turned on a lamp nearby before tossing his phone onto the bed and then unsheathing his leather jacket. He tossed it onto a chair in the corner and then proceeded to unzip his jeans and shove them off his hips, using his feet to pull them down the rest of the way off his body before finally removing his shirt. He walked over to his bed and then pulled the blankets down before walking back over to the lamp to shut it off. He returns to his bed a few moments later, grabbing his phone and plugging it in to charge before settling back against his pillows.

Sleep should've come easy-he'd been up since six AM-but instead it was though the exhaustion in him hung directly over head, but never moved any further. He was completely out of energy...and yet somehow wide awake.

He hated being wide awake when he was exhausted. He hated it even more now that Blaine was living with him.

It wasn't at all because he didn't love Blaine. Blaine was Cooper's entire world, and had been from the day he was born, but with everything that had happened lately, he was stressed to the max and being too tired to actually fall asleep only made it worse.

It had all started while Cooper had been out of town, seeking out potential job opportunities. As Blaine had explained it to him, he'd been seeing a guy at his school who was popular, and completely in the closet. No one knew they were together...at least until they'd been caught drunkenly making out at a party after a football game. According to Blaine, the guy he'd been dating, upon being caught in the compromising position, suddenly cried wolf and said Blaine had forced the kiss on him. Of course the information spread like wildfire through the party, and Blaine was screwed before he even left the room.

He'd made it to the foyer when he was jumped by a group of guys on the basketball team. They started beating on him while the kid he'd been dating-Cooper thought Blaine said his name was Kyle or something like that-just stood to the side and watched. To top it all off, they pinned him down and carved _fag _into his forehead in large letters. Blaine said he thought it was with a razor blade, but didn't know for sure.

What followed the party, Cooper wasn't entirely sure even to present day. All Blaine had told him was that he went home and did his best to bandage up the cuts before going to bed. Their parents weren't even home.

When the Anderson's did finally return home four days later-to which Blaine said was only because they found out he'd been skipping school-their parents took entirely different standpoints. Amelia, their mother, wanted to take Blaine in to the doctor, while their father, Daniel, rejected the option. It had led to an argument, which led to Blaine locking himself in his bedroom.

Daniel's behaviour hadn't surprised Cooper when he'd returned home and heard about everything that happened. Cooper had known Blaine was gay since he was five, but Daniel had rejected the 'attitude' and 'lifestyle' from the very first time Cooper had mentioned it. He lived under the guise that Blaine would simply grow out of it one day. Of course, when Blaine's 'lifestyle choices' only intensified as years passed, Daniel's anger intensified too. When he found out about Blaine's first kiss, he hit his youngest son so hard that he knocked him up against he counter doing it. After that, Blaine never said a word about his 'life choices' and he and Daniel rarely spoke. But having that _word_ carved into his forehead was apparently what Blaine deserved according to Daniel, and it was only made worse by the fact that he made the insinuation that the boys who put it there 'were only telling the truth'.

Cooper had returned to Lima at the end of that week and heard the story directly from Blaine when he'd finally gotten the younger boy to tell him what happened.

For the first few days after he got home, Cooper tried to talk some sense into their father and get him to see reason. It was pointless though, because Daniel refused every avenue of discussion, eventually getting so angry at Cooper for trying that he punched his eldest son in the jaw. After that, Cooper told Daniel he was leaving and taking Blaine with him. Amelia tried to stop them, but only briefly. When Daniel started laying his anger into her, she simply told her boys to 'just go'.

Saying they were leaving was the easy part. Actually leaving became the hard part, Cooper realized, as he set to make it happen. Granted, he had money to spend, but most of it was from the trust fund from his parents, and that wasn't going to get him very far in the long-run. More than that, the only job he had was working in the mail room at his father's law firm, and while he detested being in the same building as the older man, it was the only form of income he could keep on such short notice. Even so, Cooper set out to make things happen for himself and Blaine as fast as he could.

It took nearly six weeks-during which they stayed with one of Cooper's friends and often shared a couch bed because it was the middle of winter and freezing-but he finally managed to find a place for them. Behind their father's back, Amelia did what she could to help, though most of her 'help' was just money she could manage to get out of the bank without raising suspicions. She didn't see Blaine after he left with Cooper the night Daniel hit him. She hadn't seen him since.

But the worst part of it-at least in Cooper's opinion-was how long it took to get everything processed. He had to wait for legal guardianship before he could move Blaine to another school, which meant waiting out every single day and praying that no one tried to kill his brother while he was in school-or that Blaine himself didn't try to end his own life. It was a tedious and painful period of time, but they had finally gotten past it. Blaine was finally in a new school where no one knew him, and had a fresh start. Cooper only wished he could get those three letters off his brother's head-erase as much evidence of the torture Blaine endured as he could.

But there was little he could do. He was trying to save up for scar reduction surgery, but it was going to take ages and he wasn't sure Blaine had that kind of patience within himself.

* * *

When Blaine woke up the next morning, it was because Cooper had yanked the blinds on his window up, letting the sunlight stream in. He groaned at the light, but made no move to fight waking up. The only reason their living situation worked was because they worked together.

"I made coffee," Cooper said softly. As Blaine's eyes fell on his brothers, he could see the exhaustion he felt in Cooper's eyes. "There's cereal too, or I can make something if you want."

Blaine shook his head, rubbing his eyes wearily as he sat up. "I got bagels on the way home yesterday."

Cooper exited the room a moment later and Blaine followed seconds later. As he reached the kitchen, Cooper was pouring a cup of coffee for himself. Blaine walked over to the fridge and grabbed the bagels out before grabbing cream cheese as well. He walked over to the counter and set both down before opening the bag of bagels. As he did, Cooper passed him a knife from the silverware drawer. Blaine retrieved a bagel from the bag and then returned the bag to the fridge. Afterwards, he grabbed his bagel and cut it before applying cream cheese to it. As he moved to the small island in their kitchen, Cooper settled a cup of coffee next to him before walking around the island and picking up his phone. While Blaine ate his bagel, Cooper looked over the news.

After Cooper grew bored, he settled his phone on the table and glanced up at Blaine.

"Did you get your homework done?"

Blaine nodded.

"And you went to all your classes?"

Blaine nodded again.

"I know they said you matched all your PE credits at Somerhill, but you'd still be better off doing something other than a second study hall," Cooper said.

Blaine groaned. "I'm fine-"

"Maybe so," Cooper argued. "But the reason this works is because we do what we were told to when I took custody of you. One step out of line, Blaine-"

"I'm not gonna do anything," Blaine fought back. "I don't even talk to anyone!"

Cooper exhaled heavily and shook his head. The last thing he wanted to do was fight with Blaine.

"Nevermind," Cooper said after a few seconds. "Look, I have to be to work at seven, so I'm gonna go get ready. Do you need gas money?"

Blaine shook his head. "My car's full."

Cooper nodded. He finished his cup of coffee and then walked over to the sink and settled it inside. As he turned around, he rested a hand on the back of Blaine's head. "Sorry," he murmured softly. "I wasn't trying to yell at you."

Blaine just shook his head and took a sip of his coffee.

While Cooper showered, Blaine entertained himself by doing homework he didn't have to. He wasn't required to write the persuasive essay everyone else was because he'd just transferred, but had been granted the option to do it for extra credit if he wanted to.

The paper should've taken him at least an hour, but he was done typing and editing by the time Cooper walked out of the apartment. When he was finished, he printed it out and then headed to the shower.

* * *

The first time Kurt actually saw Blaine Anderson, he was sitting in his english class. Blaine must've moved his schedule around, because Kurt could see the words on the transfer slip that Blaine passed to their teacher from his seat in the second row. The last row-the desks to Kurt's left-only had a student in the first seat, so the teacher pointed Blaine towards the seat next to Kurt's.

Kurt couldn't help himself. He stared at Blaine as the dark-haired boy walked across the room and over to the desk next to Kurt's. He knew nothing about the boy but what Rachel had told him the day before, but he was sure of one thing. Blaine was definitely gorgeous.

Their class continued on, and Kurt's attention was pulled back to their teacher. They spent most of the class in discussion, and by the time the bell rang, Kurt had forgotten that Blaine was sitting next to him.

At least until Blaine actually spoke.

"What book are we supposed to be reading?"

Kurt glanced up at Blaine to respond, but his words stuck in his throat as his eyes finally fell on what everyone had been talking about. _Fag _scarred into his forehead.

"I...um..."

"Mr. Hummel."

Kurt glanced up at their teacher, and the look on his face said everything. "Sorry," he said quickly.

"N-no, it's my fault," Blaine said, waving his hand in a dismissive manner as he glanced up at the teacher. "I was just asking about the book."

"We're set to finish _Lord Of The Flies_ on Monday. Have you read it?"Their teacher, Mr. Gray asked.

Blaine nodded. "Earlier this year."

"Then I'd suggest you look over any notes you might still have. I'll put together a guide for you on what we've discussed in class, unless..." Mr. Gray looked back and forth between Blaine and Kurt for several moments before finally speaking. "Kurt would you mind going over your notes with Blaine?"

Kurt glanced back at Blaine and gulped. He didn't want to be rude, but all of a sudden, he was entirely conscious of what people would say if they saw them together. More over, he doubted that whatever had caused Blaine to get the scar on his forehead was anything good, and that him being paired with the other boy would likely only make things worse.

Which is why he was utterly appalled at himself when he responded, "sure."

The bell rang again, surprising both Kurt and Blaine.

"I-I have lunch right now," Kurt said.

"Me too," Blaine responded.

Kurt nodded. He turned around and picked up his things from the desk before heading out of the classroom. Blaine followed after him, and they both headed to their lockers.

The hallways were relatively empty, save for the occasional straggling student heading out for open lunch. When Kurt reached his locker, he glanced up to watch as Blaine walked further down the hallway. He couldn't help but be curious about the other boy and the words scarred into his head. And yet, in the same moment, he felt terrible for wondering at all. It wasn't his place to know, whether he wanted to or not.

As it was, Kurt didn't have much time to focus on his curiosities because Rachel came around the corner a moment later with Finn. She charged over to Kurt, tugging Finn along by his arm.

"Where were you? We waited in the cafeteria."

Kurt shrugged, grabbing a bagged lunch off the top of his locker as he looked up at Rachel. "I, uh...I met Blaine."

Rachel's eyes grew wide. "Wait, what? When?"

"Just before," Kurt responded as he closed his locker. "He was asking about school work, and I somehow volunteered myself to help out."

"Wait, are you sure that's a good idea?" Finn interjected. "Kurt, this kid could lead to serious problems for you."

Kurt rolled his eyes. "It's homework, Finn."

"Yeah, but after how Kurofsky's been," Finn tried to reason.

Kurt just shook his head. "Kurofsky's also been suspended indefinitely."

"Kurt?"

Kurt turned at the sound of his name being called and forced a pleasant smile onto his face as he came face-to-face with Blaine.

"Hi. Lunch?"

"Sure," Blaine drawled, somewhat confused. He glanced up at Rachel and Finn, but didn't say anything.

"Rachel Berry," the peppy girl said as she extended a hand past Kurt to Blaine. The gesture clearly surprised Blaine a he glanced down at her hand in front of him. He stared at it somewhat nervously for several seconds, glancing back and forth between Kurt and Rachel quizzically before finally reaching out and shaking her hand. Her grip was tight, but warm.

"Alright, well I'm really hungry," Kurt said when Rachel and Blaine released one another's hands. He turned so that he was facing Rachel and Finn, standing near Blaine, but not next to him. "Are you two coming?"

"No," Rachel said before Finn could say anything. "We'll see you in Glee later, Kurt?"

Kurt nodded. Rachel and Finn turned and walked away a few seconds later.

"Glee?" Blaine asked when Kurt turned in the opposite direction to head towards the cafeteria.

Kurt nodded. "You didn't have that at your last school?"

"We did," Blaine replied. "I just wasn't a part of it."

"Oh," Kurt replied softly. So Blaine wasn't into singing.

"It wasn't that I didn't like the idea of it," Blaine continued. "I just...It didn't feel like the right club for me to be joining, considering..." His voice drifted off, and he glanced up at Kurt. "What kind of music do you like?"

"I love Broadway show tunes," Kurt told him.

Blaine's eyebrows raised, and something akin to a smile pulled at the corners of his mouth. "Reallly? I can't seem to stop listening to the _Rent _soundtrack lately."

"Oh my God," Kurt commented. "Seasons of Love is pure genius."

Blaine chuckled, but nodded. The two boys continued to talk as they walked to the cafeteria, and then Kurt headed towards the table where he and the other Glee kids usually sat. Blaine followed after him, though it was obvious that he was slightly nervous.

Puck and Brittany were the first to look up when Kurt and Blaine sat down. Neither of them spoke, but they were both clearly surprised that Kurt had brought Blaine to their table.

"Have you guys met Blaine?" Kurt asked when they continued to stare. Puck quickly shook his head.

"Blaine, meet Puck and Brittany," Kurt said, gesturing to each one of them as he spoke. "They're in Glee club too."

Before Puck or Brittany could say anything, a couple of guys from the hockey team walked over and began making derogatory comments.

"Hey it's fag and faggier," one of the boys called out.

"Are you joining this band of homos, Puck?" Another commented.

"Still ever the douche bag, Connor?" Puck retorted as he turned on the bench.

Kurt could see a fight brewing before a punch was even thrown, but his concern was pulled towards Blaine as he moved from the table. Kurt glanced back at Puck and the hockey players, but it was clear that they were all more focused on bickering with each other than him or Blaine.

Kurt moved from his spot and headed out after the other boy.

* * *

"Blaine! C'mon Blaine, please stop."

Blaine shook his head as he stormed down the hallway away from the cafeteria. There was nothing Kurt could say to make the current situation better. It didn't matter what he did or where he went. People were still going to treat him like shit under their shoes.

"Please, Blaine!" Kurt said a bit louder. A few seconds later, his hand clamped down on Blaine's shoulder. Blaine turned suddenly and shoved Kurt's hand off of him.

"Leave me alone," Blaine told him forcefully. "I don't need more trouble."

"I'm not trying to cause any," Kurt insisted to him. "I was just-"

"I don't **care!**" Blaine insisted. "Just leave me alone!"

Kurt's shoulders dropped, and Blaine turned to walk away from him once more. He'd walked some ten feet before Kurt spoke again.

"What about the homework?"

Blaine just kept walking. He didn't stop until he reached the boys bathroom in the math hallway. He shoved the door open and walked into a stall, slamming the door shut behind him and locking it before pounding his fists angrily against the stall door.

"Ugh!" He growled as angry tears pierced the corners of his eyes. He pounded his left fist against the door, mentally cursing himself as he did. How did he ever expect that people would treat him any differently than they had at Somerhill when what he was, was stamped across his forehead? **Literally. **

Blaine stopped his movements a few seconds later when he heard the door open.

"What's going on in here?" A voice called out in a commanding tone. Blaine could tell by the octave that the man was likely a teacher. If he thought that trying to hide was worth anything though, it wasn't.

"I can see your shoes," the man said from the other side of the door. "What's going on?"

Blaine inhaled a deep breath and nervously reached out to open the door. His fingers trembled lightly, and his knuckles ached from punching the door. As the door opened, Blaine came eye-to-eye with a blonde, curly-haired man a few inches taller than him. The man's expression softened somewhat.

"Blaine Anderson?" The man asked.

Blaine sighed. "Does everyone talk about me?"

"No," He responded. "But when a new student transfers with trouble from a previous school, teachers get notified." He paused for a moment, glancing down at Blaine's hand. "Come with me. I'll get you an ice pack."

Blaine stared at the man somewhat skeptically, but he followed after him when he walked out of the room.

They walked to the end of the hall and turned the corner into the office, and the man waved at the receptionist behind the desk, greeting her with a hello and a smile. She responded with 'hey, Will'.

Will led him through a short hallway and then ducked into a room and waved Blaine in behind him.

"Will," the school nurse said cheerfully as he entered the room. "What can I do for you today?"

"I think Mr. Anderson is in need of an icepack," Will responded as Blaine stepped into the doorway. The nurse looked towards him and smiled sympathetically at him.

"What seems to be the matter?" She asked when she'd taken Blaine's reddened hand into both of hers to examine. Blaine gulped nervously.

"I think he might've overworked his fist on the punching bag," Will commented with a smile on his face. The nurse nodded, and then patted Blaine's hand before walking over to a small freezer and pulling out an ice pack. She retrieved a sleeve for it and placed the icepack into it before handing it to Blaine. Blaine held it to the back of his hand, wincing, but only at first.

"Is that all?" The nurse asked afterwards.

Blaine nodded and turned to exit the room. Will followed after him as he headed back out towards the hallway. Once he was outside the office though, Blaine paused. He wasn't sure where to go.

"Are you in lunch right now?" Will asked.

Blaine nodded, looking up at the older man.

"Follow me," Will said again.

"I don't even know you," Blaine replied.

Will turned and looked back at him. "I'm Mr. Shuester, but the other kids usually call me Mr. Shue. I teach Spanish."

Whether or not Blaine believed him didn't much matter, because he followed Will anyway when he began walking. The older man led him down two more hallways and then into the one where his locker was. He stopped at a door mid-way down the hall and unlocked it before leaning in to turn the lights on. Once he had, he stepped further into the room. Blaine followed him.

"I thought you said you taught Spanish," Blaine said when he realized the room was a choir room.

"I do," Will said as he walked over to the piano and sat down on the bench. "But that classroom is currently occupied by a french class, and I also run Glee club."

Blaine nodded, looking around the room. "I met some of the members earlier."

"You're more than welcome to join us," Will told him as he ran his fingers over the keys on the piano. He glanced up at Blaine when the boy didn't respond. "How's the transfer going so far?"

"No one's beat me up yet," Blaine commented softly. He didn't actually intend for Will to hear him.

"Blaine, if someone's tried to hurt you-"

Blaine looked up at Will and shook his head. "I'm fine. Should've figured this wouldn't help anything," he commented as he pointed to his forehead. Will stared at him sadly. The room was silent for a few minutes, and Blaine considered leaving.

"Do you like music?" Will asked just as Blaine had turned towards the door. Blaine shrugged.

"Sure. Who doesn't?"

"What's your favorite song?" Will asked.

Blaine inhaled a deep breath, considering the question. In his heart, he knew the answer, but it would likely worry people if he actually said it out loud. But as he looked up at Will, he could see the older man was looking for honesty.

"Wasted Years," Blaine said finally. "Cold."

Will nodded, looking back at the piano silently, and Blaine once again seemed headed towards the door. He was a few feet from it when Will began to play. Blaine paused. He recognized he melody. Blaine dropped his gaze to the ground. He got the feeling that Will wanted him to sing, but when the verse was supposed to start, he stayed silent. Surprisingly though, Will sang instead.

"_There's a game life plays  
__It makes you think you're everything  
__They ever said you were  
__  
I'd like to take some time  
__Clear away everything I've planned  
__  
Was it life I betrayed for the shape that I'm in  
__It's not hard to fail, it's not easy to win  
__Did I drink too much, could I disappear  
__And there's nothing that's left but wasted years..."_

Blaine inhaled a deep breath, feeling the tears burn in his eyes again, but he fought them. Instead, when the second verse started, he found himself opening his mouth to sing along. He was halfway through the verse before he realized Will wasn't singing.

"_If I could change my life  
__Be a simple kind of man  
__Try to do the best I can  
__If I could see the signs  
__I'd derail every path I could_

_When I'm about to die  
__Won't you clear away from me  
__Give me strength to fly away..."_

Will stopped playing when Blaine stopped singing, and Blaine dropped down onto his knees, staring angrily at the floor as several tears ran down his face.

"Blaine," Will said softly. "Are you okay?"

Blaine's shoulders shook as tears continued to roll down his face. "I hate them. I hate all of them for making me feel this way."

* * *

When Kurt walked out of school that evening, it was cold and the wind was blowing. He was pretty sure there would be snow soon. He followed after Finn and Rachel as they headed towards the truck, but stayed silent.

A few feet from the truck, Kurt heard someone call his name. He looked up in the dark and glanced around the parking lot before his eyes fell on Blaine, several cars down. He was leaning against it, wrapped up tightly in a scarf and black pea coat. He waved, gesturing for Kurt to come over. Kurt raised an eyebrow at the other boy, but walked over after a few seconds of speculation.

"What's up?" Kurt asked when he was close enough that neither of them had to shout.

"I-..." Blaine took a deep breath. "I'm sorry. About earlier. Would you still be willing to help with the homework?"

Kurt stared at him skeptically, unsure of how to answer the question after Blaine snapped at him. But then he considered the environment. If they went somewhere private, maybe Blaine would be less likely to snap.

"Sure," he responded after a few moments.

"Great," Blaine said. "Are you free tonight?"

Kurt glanced back at Rachel and Finn, who were standing at the truck, waiting and staring at him.

"Um, sure, but what's your place like? Cause it's gonna be crowded at mine," Kurt said.

"Empty," was all Blaine said. "We can go to mine."

"Great," Kurt said, finally granting a smile. He turned back towards Finn and Rachel and waved his hand at them, gesticulating for them to leave as he walked around Blaine's car. Blaine got in the driver's side seat while Kurt took the passenger seat.

* * *

The drive was short, but equally as quiet. Kurt was too nervous to ask anything, and even if he'd had the nerve to, he wasn't sure Blaine would've been willing to answer.

When they arrived at an apartment complex, Kurt found himself surprised. Blaine's car was a very nice hybrid, which didn't exactly translate to living in an apartment. Even so, he didn't say anything about it, and just followed Blaine after they got out of the car, up to the building.

Once they were inside, Blaine led him up a flight of stairs to the second floor. He stopped halfway down the hall in front of apartment door 2H and unlocked the door before opening it. Kurt followed Blaine inside and over to the island in the kitchen.

Blaine dropped his bag on the counter and walked over to the fridge, grabbing himself a bottle of water.

"Are you hungry or thirsty?" He asked. Kurt shook his head, removing his coat while he looked around. There wasn't the slightest touch of femininity in the room.

"Do you live here with your dad?" Kurt asked.

Blaine shook his head, swallowing a large sip of water as he walked back to the island and sat down. "My brother." He dug into his school bag and pulled out his english folder. Kurt pulled his out as well, and they both glanced at the other's. Kurt's folder was several millimeters thicker and more torn up than Blaine's brand new one. Blaine chuckled at the sight.

"My folder looks pathetic."

Kurt couldn't help himself. He laughed too. He looked up at Blaine nervously afterward, and the two boys stared at each other for a few moments before they laughed again.

Kurt had a million questions for Blaine, but the tension seemed to lift from the room when they laughed. When they both managed to calm down and turn their attention to their work, the mood felt lighter.

For the next two hours, Kurt and Blaine focused on school work. When Kurt finished going through english notes with him, they moved on to other subjects they both shared, and by six PM, they'd both managed to finish most of their homework.

Kurt's phone rang in his pocket as he finished of his math homework, and he pulled it out, lifting his phone to his ear as he accepted the call.

"Hello?"

"_Where are you?" _Burt asked from the other end of the line.

"I'm at...a friend's house," Kurt responded. He glanced over at Blaine nervously, but the other boy was focused on his own phone. "We're just doing homework."

_"What friend? Mercedes?" _Burt sounded a bit flustered. Granted, he always sounded flustered when Kurt made last-minute plans and didn't inform him of them.

"A new friend. He just transferred in," Kurt responded.

"_Kurt Bartholomew Hummel-" _

"**Dad**," Kurt responded in the same tone. "Look, I won't be out all night."

_"You better be home by curfew, Kurt," _Burt told him sternly. _"And I want to meet this kid. And his parents." _

Kurt just told Burt what he wanted to hear, and left out the part where Blaine had told him that he lived with his brother. When he finally hung up. Blaine was digging underneath the folders strewn across the table.

"What're you looking for?" Kurt asked.

"Take out menus," Blaine said, somewhat sadly. "Another night alone," he muttered under his breath.

Kurt just stared at him for a minute, not moving to stop him. He got the feeling from staring at Blaine that this wasn't unusual for him-being alone.

"I can stay," Kurt offered. "I'll tell you all the people and places you should avoid at McKinley."

Blaine glanced up at him and considered the option for a few seconds. "Seriously?"

Kurt nodded.

Blaine seemed to perk up somewhat. "Okay. Cool."

* * *

Whether or not hanging out with Blaine was the smartest thing to do, Kurt did it anyway. He did that first night, and then the night after, and the night after that. It wasn't always for the entire afternoon. Sometimes they just talked for an hour over homework and coffee. Kurt found out that Blaine loved the Lima Bean just as much as he did, and it became their meet-up spot most mornings.

After a week at McKinley, and multiple conversations on the topic, Kurt finally got Blaine to attend a Glee meeting. When they arrived, Kurt found out that Blaine had already met and talked to Mr. Shue on several occasions. Apparently Mr. Shue had been trying to get Blaine to come to a Glee meeting as well.

Kurt also found out that day that Blaine could sing and play piano. He did Against All Odds justice.

It was ten days after Blaine and Kurt first hung out that Blaine finally went to the Hudson-Hummel household and met Burt and Carole. Granted, the only reason Kurt brought Blaine over was because Finn and Rachel were having date night, but Blaine finally got to see where he resided-small as it may be. Kurt was pretty sure that they didn't have much more space than Blaine and his brother did.

When Burt found out that Blaine lived with his brother, more questions came up. Questions that Kurt himself hadn't asked yet. And even though Blaine's scarred forehead was clearly a go-to conversation piece, Kurt had never started the discussion, and for nearly two hours, neither did his parents.

They were just starting to dig into a lasagna Carole had made when Burt finally spoke.

"Blaine, I really don't want to ruffle and feathers, but I've got to ask. Does the scar have anything to do with you being with your brother?"

Kurt gaped at his father with a mouthful of food-at least for a moment, until Carole reached over and pushed his mouth shut. But then he looked over at Blaine, curious as to what he would say.

Blaine inhaled a deep breath and then gave a small nod.

"There was a fight," Blaine said. "With a group of guys at my last school. A bunch of them against me. They cut my head, and no one was home. When my parents came back, they didn't do anything," he explained. "So Cooper-my brother-had me move in with him. It was...a process."

Burt nodded, glancing over at Kurt. Kurt looked back at him, and then Burt looked over at Blaine again.

"And are you..." He gulped. "Gay?"

Once again, Kurt looked over at Blaine. As he stared at the other boy, he realized that no one had actually **asked **Blaine that question since he'd transferred to McKinley. Everyone just assumed from the scar on his forehead.

Blaine stared down at his plate for well over a minute in silence, obviously nervous to respond.

"My parents won't judge," Kurt said when Blaine still hadn't said anything. Finally, he lifted his hazel eyes and looked at Kurt.

"I am."

* * *

It was that same night that Cooper finally met Burt and Carole-mostly because Carole insisted that Blaine wasn't going to go home to an empty apartment. When Cooper finally arrived, it was nearly nine-thirty, and then he and Burt spent another hour talking before Cooper finally came out and told Blaine they could go home.

While Cooper, Burt, and Carole all seemed somewhat nervous at the aspect of Kurt and Blaine's friendship, they all also agreed that it seemed to be good for the both of them. Given that fact, none of them made any move to tell the two boys they couldn't continue to talk. And so Blaine and Kurt continued to hang out. And as they did, Blaine became better acquainted with the people in Kurt's circle. He developed good relationships with Rachel, Tina, and Mercedes, and they became staples at his apartment when the Hudson-Hummel residence didn't have the room for all of them.

As Blaine and Kurt continued to hang out and grow closer, Kurt eventually confessed to Blaine outright that he was in-fact gay. Though Blaine never questioned it, and Kurt never made it out to seem as though he were straight, the conversation came up one night when they were both laying on the floor of Blaine and Cooper's living room after a lengthy Dance Dance Revolution battle.

"You know that new kid was staring at you today in english," Kurt commented as he glanced over at Blaine with a smirk.

Blaine rolled his eyes. "He was not. And he is definitely **not **gay."

Kurt laughed. "Oh, he so is."

"Really, well I saw that football player checking you out at lunch today. Not that he didn't try to hide it. And I'm pretty sure he wants to kill me." Blaine said.

Kurt's expression changed, and Blaine's brow furrowed as he stared at Kurt.

"What is it?" Blaine asked. "What happened?"

Kurt shook his head, pushing himself up into a seated position. He leaned back against the couch, still trying to catch his breath.

Blaine pushed himself up as well and grabbed a water-bottle he'd abandoned earlier in the evening from beside himself. He took a long sip from it. "C'mon. I've told you almost every secret I have. What is it?"

Kurt glanced up at Blaine, nervous to actually respond.

"Kurofsky-the football player you were talking about," Kurt started. "He was suspended because he threatened to kill me earlier this year."

Blaine's brow furrowed. "Why?"

Kurt exhaled heavily. "Because I don't hide the fact that I'm gay, and he does."

Blaine's eyebrows raised, surprised.

"What?" Kurt asked. "You didn't know?"

Blaine shrugged. "You never said anything. I just assumed I'd find out one day when you met someone."

Kurt shrugged as well. "Well I'm out of the closet, and Kurofsky hates me for it. Or hated...I don't know. Since he came back, we don't speak. I avoid him, and he avoids me."

Blaine nodded. He offered his water bottle to Kurt, and Kurt took it. He took a large gulp of it and then passed it back to Blaine. The room was quiet for a bit.

"Now that I've told you that," Kurt said when he found his breathing rhythm again. "Can I ask you something?"

"Is it about the scar?" Blaine asked back.

Kurt just responded point-blank. "Will you tell me what happened? Not what I've already heard; what really happened?"

Blaine inhaled a deep breath and chewed on the inside of his lip. He hadn't ever hold anyone the **whole **story. Just what he'd told Cooper.

"It was after a football game," Blaine spoke softly. "I'd been seeing this guy, Kyle. He was on the basketball team, but that wasn't why he was popular. It was Somerhill-"

"So obviously he was ridiculously smart," Kurt commented.

Blaine nodded. "Most of the popular group were jocks who had the highest GPAs. I played soccer for the school, but the season was over. Anyway, we were at this party after the game-which we'd won-and we were both drinking. I probably shouldn't have, because Kyle liked to get handsy after a few beers, but he kept telling me that he was going to come out to his parents, and I was excited. I thought we were moving forward.

"Anyway, we were up in the bedroom of some rich kid's parent from our school, and I had his shirt half-unbuttoned when the door opened. As soon as it did though, he pushed me away and said I was the one who initiated it, and that he didn't want me to kiss him," Blaine explained. He took in another deep breath. "After that, I figured I should bail before something happened. I tried to leave, but the guy who saw us followed me and was yelling, and other people heard...I was on the second-to-last step, and someone shoved me onto the floor by the front door.

"The next thing I knew, all these guys were on me, kicking me and punching me, and everyone else just stood and watched. I remember someone hit me in the side of the head and I blacked out for a moment, because when I came to, this guy from the basketball team was on top of me and the other guys were pinning me down. He started cutting my head, and I couldn't do anything to stop him. Most of the people watching just laughed. The ones who didn't, didn't say anything."

"How'd you get home?" Kurt asked shakily. He could feel a knot in his throat.

"They let me go after that, and I managed to grab a bandage from the bathroom before I drove myself home. There was blood running down my head, but I couldn't go to the hospital, and I didn't know who to call...So I went home and did what I could, and then didn't go to school the following week. My parents came home when the school called them about truancy...and you know the rest of the story after that." Blaine told him.

Kurt shook his head sadly. "I'm so sorry, Blaine."

Blaine shook his head, looking up at Kurt. "Why?"

Kurt opened his mouth to respond, but the words he wanted to say felt too hard to speak. He wanted to tell Blaine he was sorry because he cared about him. He wanted to tell Blaine that what happened wasn't his fault, and that he would never do what Kyle did to him. He wanted to tell Blaine he would never push him away if he tried to kiss him.

But instead, he just told him that what happened wasn't right, and Blaine agreed, commenting that what Kurofsky did was no better.

* * *

Prom came and went-both Kurt and Blaine went stag, but danced together as friends. Kurt was too nervous to even try to tell Blaine that he cared about him, and liked him as more than a friend. Plus he was pretty sure Blaine was doing everything he could just to fit in.

After Prom came Nationals in New York. Blaine hadn't planned on officially joining Glee club until the following year, but he became a last-minute alternate when Lauren broke her wrist fighting with some girl from another school and got herself suspended from the team-and school. Cooper just barely managed to scrape together the money Blaine needed for the trip-or at least that's what he told him. Blaine was pretty sure their mother had given him the money.

The trip itself was amazing. Blaine had breakfast at Tiffany's with Kurt and Rachel, and they all talked about going back to New York after graduation. And then there was the actual competition.

The team tried hard, and Blaine knew that they were all amazing, but they fell short. The trip back to Lima was a quiet one.

Even so, once they returned to school the following Monday, spirits seemed to have lifted. There was always next year, Mr. Shue had told them. And more than that, the team had made it all the way to nationals, and that was something to be proud of. Plus, if that didn't lift spirits enough, he reminded them that summer was just around the corner.

Blaine continued to blow through his classes without trying. He eventually sat down with his guidance counselor and they looked at the options McKinley could offer him on its limited budget and tried to build the best possible schedule for him for the fall semester.

The afternoon after Blaine had his meeting with the guidance counselor, Kyle turned up again. Blaine and Kurt had been at the Lima Bean talking about homework over coffee. The prep-school boy had shown up and spotted them while Blaine was mid-way through explaining their math homework and walked over. Blaine tried to ignore him, but Kurt only knew what Blaine had told him about the other boy and didn't know what he looked like, so he was surprised to find out who Kyle actually was. When Blaine refused to speak to him, Kyle called him a fag several times, getting louder each time. He ended up getting kicked out.

When Kurt and Blaine left later that afternoon, Kyle was still there. Kurt did his best to ignore the guy, and when he followed them to Blaine's car, Blaine threatened a restraining order. There was a silent exchange between the two boys, and then Kyle finally walked away, and Kurt got into Blaine's car as Blaine did.

"What was that?" He asked when Blaine had pulled out of the parking lot.

"He thinks if he pisses me off, I'll forgive him. He's been trying to get me to talk to him since I left Somerhil," Blaine explained.

"Do you want to-"

Blaine glanced over at Kurt with a glare in his eyes. "**No**. I want him to leave me alone and just live our lives separately. He doesn't seem to get that." Blaine huffed, shaking his head as he pounded his palms against the steering wheel. "He made me hate myself, Kurt. Made me hate looking at myself in the mirror."

Kurt nodded because he understood. Before Blaine had transferred to McKinley, Kurofsky made him feel the same way. Like he was just something Kurofsky could stomp on. Kurt was increasingly aware of how much he and Blaine had in common.

"It doesn't matter anymore anyway," Blaine said, breaking Kurt from his thought process.

"How so?" Kurt questioned.

Blaine glanced up at him and smiled. "Because. He's not in my life anymore and things have changed. I've changed." He paused for a moment, and then spoke again, this time softer as he focused on the road. "The beginning of this year was _really _hard. But it's better now, and the summer's going to be even better."

As summer loomed closer though, Kurt started to pull away from Blaine. They had become best friends in the nearly three months that they'd gotten to know each other, and the last thing Kurt wanted to do was screw that up by trying to change it.

Even so, Blaine was aware of the changes, if only because of Kurt's absence from his life in the two whole days Kurt managed to avoid him.

The night before the last day of school, Blaine had to practically beg Kurt to come over. It was nearly eighty degrees outside, and he wanted to go swimming in the pool in his apartment building. Most of the people who lived there were older, and they didn't usually use the pool at night.

Kurt turned up after dinner with a doggy bag-Carole had insisted-and Blaine dragged him down to the pool. While Kurt was content to sit on the edge of the pool and let his feet dangle in the deep end, Blaine showed off, swimming laps.

When Blaine grew tired, he stood at the deep end, his feet barely touching the ground, staring up at Kurt as his arms draped over the side of the pool.

"Why do you look so serious?" Blaine's voice was cheerful. Kurt could remember when he never seemed happy. He remembered when Blaine thought his scar embodied him. Kurt never noticed it anymore, though. Even though the letters were red and clear on his face, Kurt didn't see the word. He just saw Blaine.

"I just have a lot on my mind," Kurt responded. "It's not that big of a deal."

"It is to me," Blaine told him. "You never want to talk anymore."

"I just don't want to mess anything up," Kurt told him.

Blaine shook his head, furrowing his brow at Kurt. "What're you going to mess up?"

"Nothing," Kurt said. "Nevermind."

Blaine sighed heavily and pushed away from the side of the pool with his feet. Kurt exhaled a sigh of relief, but a moment later, Blaine grasped her ankle and used the force of pushing himself away from the side of the pool to tug Kurt in.

Kurt cried out, but his voice was lost in the water, drowned out as water filled his mouth. When he surfaced a few seconds after he glared at Blaine from where the other boy was a few feet away from him, grinning.

"Blaine!"

Blaine just chuckled at him, swimming over to Kurt. "Talk to me," he insisted. "Tell me what's wrong."

"Nothing's wrong," Kurt told him again.

Blaine huffed. "Kurt."

"**Blaine**," he said in the same tone he had used with his father all those weeks ago.

"Just tell me," Blaine said. "Tell me what's so bad you can't say it."

"Isn't that the point?" Kurt commented. "That it's _so bad_?"

Blaine stared at him for a few moments thoughtfully for a few moments. "Could you _show_ me? I'll close my eyes, if you want."

Kurt groaned, dropping his head. "Fine!"

"Okay," Blaine said. "Closing my eyes."

Kurt stared at the other boy as he lifted his head back up. Blaine was still standing in front of of him.

Panic filled Kurt, and he could feel his heartbeat in his ears. He couldn't kiss Blaine. Blaine would hit him, and that would be the end of their friendship. Everything they'd built up would be gone. The happy person Blaine had become would be gone.

But then he remembered the first time he really saw Blaine, that first day in English class. He remembered how he planned on telling Blaine that he couldn't help, and he remembered thinking Blaine was the worst thing for him...And then he'd said yes.

So Kurt leaned in and kissed the other boy. It wasn't anything messy or even super sensual-at least at first. Their mouths were both closed, and Blaine was clearly somewhat surprised at the gesture.

Kurt's eyes fluttered open as he pulled away from Blaine after a few seconds, but when he did, Blaine's eyes opened as well. They stared at each other for several seconds, and then Blaine's hands came up out of the water and grasped Kurt's face. He pulled him forward, kissing him more fully, and this time, their mouth's open.

Blaine led the kiss, and Kurt let him. Blaine obviously knew more than he did, and he was fine with that. As their kiss continued, Blaine moved him backwards until they were up against the wall. Kurt's hands rested on Blaine's hips, never moving. They stayed that way until neither of them could breathe anymore, and then they finally parted.

"I...umm..."

"Sorry," Blaine said in response to Kurt's inability to speak. "I didn't mean to be so possessive."

Kurt looked up at him, surprised at his words. He had been sure the 'sorry' would be followed by 'I didn't mean to do that'. But all he could do was laugh at what Blaine had actually said. Because Blaine **hadn't **apologized for kissing him. He'd apologized for kissing him _so much. _

Blaine laughed too, and all at once, it felt like that very first day all over again in the kitchen. The laughter breaking the tension and making them feel like they could actually communicate on a normal level.

Except this time when the laughing stopped, it was because they were touching each other's faces and smiling at each other. And then kissing one more time.


End file.
